The Christmas Gaming Gift Guide Part 2: The Ones to Watch

Hello, and welcome to part 2 of my Christmas gaming gift guide. I had originally intended to make this a three part feature, but now I think there may even be a fourth part. This one is about the 10 games that I'm intrigued by but am a little hesitant about for whatever reason. The next part will be about Christmas gaming on a budget with 10 of the best bargains I can find, and the last part will be about the to 10 downloadable games on the Wii's Virtual Console and the 360's Live Arcade.

Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles - Wii - out 30/11/07

I am a long term fan of the Resident Evil series and while the spin-off light gun series has been something of a dissapointment up to now, Umbrella Chronicles looks to rectify this. Making good use of the Wii's controllers, the game takes you on a rollercoaster ride through some of the most memorable moments from each of the games, along with some new content that will reveal things that we weren't privvy to the first time around. Will it be long enough, however?

Blue Dragon - Xbox 360 - out nowBlue Dragon has picked up some rather dissapointing review scores, which explains why I don't own it yet and also why it's been relegated from must-have status. I have played the downloadable demo and I did enjoy what I experienced, but the game does seem a bit shallow and simple compared to the likes of Final Fantasy XII. Dragon Quest VIII showed a few years ago that an RPG can be light-hearted and have huge depth at the same time, and from what I hear, Blue Dragon doesn't quite pull it off.


WipeOut Pulse - PSP - out 30/11/07

WipeOut Pulse has more tracks, weapons, teams, and modes - everthing you'd expect from a sequel. The graphics are a noticeable improvement from Pure, and the Mag Strip is introduced which lets your craft flip flop from the ground to the ceiling and back again during the course of a race. Downloadable content is promised, just like the original game (which remains one of the few games to offer such as thing to this day), as is proper online play thanks to the Infrafstructure mode. There should be enough game in here to keep you busy for quite some time.

Sega Rally Revo - Xbox 360 - out now

The original Sega Rally and its sequel still stand the test of time as true arcade classics, and the machines can be found in cinema foyers and bowling alleys to this very day. Sega has made one previous attempt to update the franchise on consoles, which resulted in the shockingly poor Sega Rally 2005, but they seem to have learnt from their mistakes this time with this decidedly old school but extremely enjoyable follow up.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War - PSP - out now

The original Final Fantasy Tactics started out life on the original PlayStation just after the release of Final Fantasy VII, except it never made it to Europe. Although largely considered to be a classic, the game wasn't without its flaws, most noticeably the broken translation. With this remake, this has been fixed, and new animated cutscenes with full voice dialogue have also been added. You can also now get the sky pirate Balthier from FFXII and the hero from the forthcoming FFTA2 to join your party. Be warned though, it's incredibly difficult.


Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga - Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, DS, PSP - out 09/11/07

The Complete Saga combines all of the levels from the first Lego Star Wars and The Original Trilogy, adds some new ones and gives the whole package a bit of a boost in the graphics department. The lighting effects are more impressive and the plastic looks shinier - more of an evolution than a revolution then, but if you missed the games the first time around this is worth considering.

Zack & Wiki - Wii - out 07/12/07

Now this sounds interesting - a game that involves monkeys, pirates, pointing and clicking. Could be a succesful combination! You can turn your enemies into tools to help you solve puzzles - for example a snake can be turned into a grabbing arm to retrieve an item in a tree which is otherwise out of reach. From what I've heard, things get rather tough later on - I hope the game builds up gradually rather than being frustrating from the start.

Assassin's Creed - Xbox 360, PS3, PC - out 16/11/07

I'm in two minds about this game. It originally sounded rather cool when I first heard about it over a year ago, but it's been rammed down my throat at every opportunity by Jade Raymond at every gaming event since and I'm starting to get sick of hearing about it, and Ubisoft haven't delivered on many of their promises recently. Still, swan-diving off buildings, swaggering through crowds and stabbing people in the throat might be fun.

Wild Arms 5 - PS2 - out 30/11/07

Now, I realise it's probably a lost cause trying to convert any of you to Wild Arms fans at this stage, let alone pursuading you to buy a PS2 game, but I've been a fan of this series ever since I picked up Wild Arms 3 out of curiousity for a tenner a few years back. The fourth game monkeyed around with the game mechanics somewhat, but 5 returns to more traditional gameplay (except it keeps the Hex battle system from the last game).

Dewy's Adventure - Wii - out 23/11/07

The next game from the Eledees/Elebits team sees you in control of an anthropomorphic blob of H2O, who can move between a solid, a liquid or a gas state to solve various puzzles. The Wii controls are put to good use in this charming game. It may not appeal to the "I only play Halo, I'm 'ard me... grrr" crowd, but I for one would not be ashamed to be seen playing a game with so much imagination.

So there you are, if you have a spare bit of Christmas cash and you're not sure what to do with it, then consider one of these game. Next time, I will be featuring 10 excellent games you can pick up at a budget price, so if you haven't got much to spend or you just want to make what cash you have got stretch further, take a look!

The Christmas Gaming Gift Guide Part 1: Must Have titles

Greetings! I'm taking a bit of a break from my recent review marathon for a three part feature on the games that you won't want to miss this Christmas season. Maybe you're looking for an idea of what to buy for a gaming friend, or you'd like some inspiration of what to ask for? Well look no further. I've divided the games into three sections - must have titles which shouldn't be missed, and those that are worth a look if you have any spare cash left over after buying the games in the first category. Today we're looking at the games that you shouldn't be without (in my opinion of course).

The Orange Box - PC, Xbox 360, PS3 - out now

I'm not really a great lover of the FPS genre, and it takes something extra special for me to take notice and actually go out and buy the thing. The Orange Box is just such as thing as it contains one of the finest FPS games the world has ever seen in the form of Half-Life 2, together with Episode 1 and 2, and tops it all off with the sublime puzzle-FPS Portal and the frantic multiplayer deathmatch game Team Fortress 2. An absolute bargain that will keep you playing for ages.

Project Gotham Racing 4 - Xbox 360 - out now

PGR3 was one of the best launch titles for the Xbox 360 and now Bizarre Creations have managed to better it with PGR4. As well as new additions such as motorbikes and dynamic weather, there's also a fully reworked and extended Career mode, and the challenges which used to make up the career can now be found under the Arcade section. The could well be the last game in the series that Bizzarre is involved with as the company now belongs to Activision.

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption - Wii - out now

The Metroid Prime trilogy comes to an explosive end as Samus goes up against her evil nemesis Dark Samus as well as long term enemies the Space Pirates and Ridley. The motion controls work extremely well, and the epic boss battles are both challenging and extremely exciting. Will this be the last we see of the Bounty Hunter? I hope not, these games have been favourites of mine for the last few years.

Super Mario Galaxy - Wii - out 16/11/07

This is easily my most eagerly anticipated game of the year. Super Mario Sunshine was OK a few years back on the Gamecube, but, Galaxy looks like it's going to take a slight step back to the charm of Super Mario 64 whilst still managing to bring plenty of original ideas to the able. Mario will be able to transform into a bee, a boo and spring to name just three new abilities, and from what I've seen the graphics will be amazing.

Mass Effect - Xbox 360 - out 23/11/07

The Xbox 360 is finally starting to build up a decent collection of RPG's. Enchanted Arms was OK but nothing spectacular, which is exactly what Mass Effect promises to be. Developed by Bioware, the developers of KOTOR and Jade Empire, Mass Effect promises to deliver an epic space saga with more freedom and emphasis on character customisation than has ever been possible before. Definitely one to watch.

Halo 3 - Xbox 360 - out now

Of course, many people out there will already own a copy of Halo 3, but many also won't be getting their own Xbox 360 to play it on until Christmas, so expect another sales surge towards the end of the year. While picking up a copy personally isn't my highest priority, I will get around to it eventually and I look foward to trying out the new additions such as the video replay mode, the bubble shield and the Forge level editor.

Eternal Sonata - Xbox 360 - out now

For those who prefer a traditional Japanese style RPG rather than the western approach taken by Mass Effect, Eternal Sonata will do nicely. The game centres around the composer Chopin as he lies on his death bed, and takes place in his dreams. At various points in the game the player is given more details of the real Chopin and his musical compositions, which is a strange contrast to rest of the game but fascinating nonetheless.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass - DS - out now

Last winter it was Twilight Princess, this time it's Phantom Hourglass. The touch screen controls, which include drawing the path for your boomering or steering your boat, are perfectly implemented and when you see the game running for the first time you won't believe your eyes as Nintendo have managed to capture the style of The Wind Waker on the DS to great effect.

Bioshock - Xbox 360 - out now

The spirtitual successor to the classic PC shooter/chiller System Shock 2, BioShock has been out for a while now, but if you haven't already bought it I'd recommend putting it on your Christmas list. You can genetically modify your character so that they can perform telekenis, shoot fire or even a swarm of bees from their arms, and you also have to decide whether to save or sacrifice the Little Sisters, who look like young girls but are actually something more sinister.

Hellgate: London - PC - out 02/11/07

Members of the original team behind Diablo and Diablo 2 return to create a game that shares many similarities but also many differences. The hellish theme and the random generated content will be familiar to fans of the hack and slash RPG series, but the fast paced action and the London Underground settting will be new. As well as offering an in depth single player campaign, Hellgate: London also promises a fully developed multiplayer mode.

So, those are the ten games I would consider over and above all of the hundrens of titles that are coming out this Christmas period, but they aren't the only ones I'm intersted in. Next week I will list my the top ten games that I am keeping tabs on, but will only pick up if time and money permit,

Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball review

This week I'm going to try something a little different, as this will be my first pinball table review. The categories will mostly be the same, although they are in a different context. Presentation takes the places of the Graphics and Sound & Music categories and includes the imagery on the PinLED display, the artwork on the table itself and the sound and music samples. The layout of the table is considered in Game Mechanics and also to a certain extent in Innovation & Cleverness. Value and Replayability will consider how much the machine would likely cost you today and whether you're likely to get bored, or if the table is packed with things to discover and do. The first game I'm going to cover in this little experiment is Star Trek: The Next Generation, part of the widebody SuperPin series by Williams and released in 1993.

Format: Pinball ("SuperPin" Widebody)
Manufacturer: Williams
Year Released: 1993
Estimated Price: £750-£1000

Presentation: 9 out of 10
Star Trek: The Next Generation is a very attractive table to look at. As well as the artwork which is based on the actual likenesses of the actors from the program (see the image of the back glass above) the computer style readouts feature across the table, and there are also very authentic replicas of a Romulan Warbird, a Klingon fighter and a Borg ship which come to play in various modes. The PinLED screen is also used to very good effect for the many different missions and events that can take place - for example you will see the Borg and their ship appear on the view screen, or the Ferengi begging for Duranium spheres. Where quick reactions are needed (steering the shuttle through caverns for example) the game doesn't let the player down and the screen remains in sync with your flipper control.

What really makes ST:TNG the authentic experience it is though, is the audio. All of the principal actors from the television series as well as some supporting characters (such as Q) make an appearance and they are all played by the proper actors. Neat little touches such as Picard saying "Prepare for multiball" or being able to cut of that annoying android with "Thank you Mr Data" by pressing a flipper button when he's pointing out how crap you are really draw you into the game. All in all, Star Trek fans won't be disappointed, and to be honest neither will pinball fans.

Here you can see detail from the lower playfield, including two guns that can be used to launch a probe or shoot targets in the Battle Simulation mission.

Game Mechanics: 9 out of 10
What really makes ST:TNG smarter than your average pinball table are the missions. There are seven standard missions which can be triggered either by choosing to do so when you launch a ball, getting the ball in the Launch Mission hole, or the Command Decision hole when lit. These vary from shooting down asteroids, going through time rifts and rescuing people in the shuttle. Success in the missions gives you an artifact, which come into play in the final mission, only available when you've finished (but not necessarily completed) all the others. In the Final Frontier, six balls are launched at once, and each artifact you've managed to collect increases the value of every shot in this mode. The most I've managed so far is three artifacts, which means each shot was worth 100 million. Now, imagine how crazy it must get when you have six ball pinging around all over the table - your score will very quickly shoot into the billions!

Supporting the standard missions are various other modes, including the Holodeck video modes and numerous multiball modes, including Romulan, Cardassian, Ferengi and the Borg. Romulans and Cardassians are two ball multiballs, Ferengi is up to four and the Borg is three. As you lock each ball, you will get little updates on the Borg, from there being a strange shape on the view screen to there being a full scale attack. If you have a ball locked in the right place when Borg multiball begins, then the Borg ship will fire one of the balls straight at your flippers. In this mode, you have to fire shots into the central Launch Mission hole to destroy parts of the Borg ship before your shields are taken down - if they are, you have to get them back up by going through the spinner.

ST:TNG is also one of the few tables I've seen which lets you continue, up to three times. It also has multiple scoreboards, and which one you end up on depends on various factors. If you use more than one continue, you are limited to the Officers Club, if you use one or none at all and score under 10 Billion, you are on the Honor Roll, and if you score over 10 Billion without continuing, you will be on the Q Continuum. I haven't managed it yet, but if you somehow manage to get to the Final Frontier with the maximum 10 artifacts I can imagine it would be more than possible.

Here you can see the model of the Romulan Warbird, along with the Advance in Rank hole which when lit you can use to progress from Ensign through to Captain and beyond.

Innovation and Cleverness: 9 out of 10
While ST:TNG probably wasn't the first table to have missions, continues, 6 ball multiballs or have a wide body, all of these things together combined with the sound, music and design make for a very smart table indeed. You will be playing for quite some time before you see everything the table has to offer, and it will take longer still before you start getting good enough to get a score on the Q Continuum board. While my knowledge of pinball tables is quite limited, I can still tell this is one of the finest tables you can find, at least without spending several thousand pounds.

Value and Replayability: 9 out of 10
When I was checking ebay prior to writing this review, I managed to find an ST:TNG table for £750, which may sound like a lot of money, but is actually very reasonable for a table of this stature. Of course, it does depend of the condition of the table, so I do recommend that you try and see and play the table you're going to purchase without just buying blind, or you could end up with technical problems that will cost you considerable amounts of money, especially as the electronics in a table like this are very sophisticated.

As for the replayability, the missions and all the other hidden events mean you will keep coming back to the game time and time again.

Overall: 9 out of 10
While there may just be better tables out there, ST: TNG is one of the best you can buy for under £1000. Star Trek fans will be in heaven as they here the characters saying various catchphrases, and pinball fans will enjoy the deep and varied gameplay that the missions and modes offer. If you have a love of pinball and Star Trek and you've always wanted your own machine, then go ahead - make it so!

Metal Slug Anthology review

The original Metal Slug was released in 1996 for both the arcade and home version of the Neo Geo hardware, and was developed by the small company Nazca. SNK liked what they saw, and so they bought both the company and the Metal Slug brand name. The franchise is still going strong (with Metal Slug 7 slated for a DS release), despite several less than stellar games including Metal Slug 4 (more on this later) and the poor attempt to move the series into 3D on the PS2. Metal Slug Anthology came out last year for the PSP, Wii and PS2, and is a collection of Metal Slug 1-6 as well as the remix of 2 known as Metal Slug X. We're taking a look at the PSP version today, because it's perfectly suited to the portable format. It seems that we're also trying to win a record for the most times we can put the words "Metal Slug" into a review at the same time...

Format: PSP
Publisher: Ignition Entertainment
Developer: SNK PlayMore/Nazca
Genre: Run & Gun Shooter
Region: Europe (runs on any PSP)
Price: £29.99 RRP, can be found for £10-£15

Graphics: 9 out of 10
The cartoon style visuals and extremely fluid animations that are packed with incidental details are one of the hallmarks of the Metal Slug series. Most of the games, with the exception of 4, have imaginatively designed levels that each have their own twist - be it a unique vehicle, weapon, enemy or other special event. This is one of the things that keeps you playing on, so that you can see exactly what weird and wonderful stuff the developers can come up with next. Highlights include a camel with machine guns attached, mummies and zombies that you can be turned into (the zombie has a fantastic blood-spewing special attack) and becoming fat if you pick up too many food bonuses. The boss battles are also fantastic and frequently fill the entire screen, as do the many bullets and missiles they spew at you. There is a bit of an issue with slowdown in Metal Slug 2, but this seems to be a problem with the game code rather than the PSP, as it's fixed from Metal Slug X onwards. It just goes to show how powerful the Neo Geo was, and how ahead of it's time the series was also, because they compare remarkably well against the 2D games of today.

Sound and Music: 7 out of 10
The music of the earlier games is definitely in the 16-bit style - a bit tinny and synthetic, but well composed. By the time you get to 6, the music has been completely remastered and the familiar tunes from the early games have been given a new lease of life. There's a fair bit of speech in the games, mostly announcing which weapon you've picked up as well as the "Thank you!" when you free a POW, and again in the earlier games it's a bit fuzzy but by the later entries it's nice and clear. The sounds you will be hearing most frequently however, are the sounds of bullets and explosions. The Metal Slug games are completely manic, never sitting still for a second and the sound reflects this.

Here you can see the Metal Slug tank itself battling against a giant armoured crab with cannons attached from the third game in the series.

Game Mechanics: 8 out of 10
If you are familiar with run and gun shooters such as the Contra series, Alien Hominid or perhaps Treasure's Gunstar Heroes, you should know where the Metal Slug series is coming from. Basically, you (and a friend if you know someone with a PSP and their own copy of the game) take control of a soldier up against insurmountable odds - be it against an evil Nazi style army, the undead, aliens from outer space, tribesmen or even nastier aliens from outer space. There are many different weapon to pick up and you can fire in any direction, which is handy as your enemies can appear from any direction as well. These weapons include the Heavy Machine Gun, Rocket Launcher, Laser Gun, Flamethrower and many more, and they all cause their own unique death animation when used on your enemies. There are also a wide variety of vehicles to pilot, from the super deformed Metal Slug tank of the title, to the camel, to helicopters and planes. These vehicles having their own energy bar which can be refilled by collecting fuel canisters. If they take too much damage they will explode, so it's best to jump out before that happens.

Scattered throughout all the levels are many POW's who need rescuing, and doing so will cause them to drop either a weapon or an bonus item for you to collect. Upon completing a level you are given bonus points depending on how many POW's you managed to rescue, but each time you die the number is reset - and you will die often, believe me. Each of the games in the collection have 5-6 levels and they are all fairly short (it takes just over an hour to complete each one). Chances are you will replay them however as apart from the first game in the series, there are 4-6 characters to choose from each with their own abilities and weapons.

Here is the tooled-up death camel facing off against another of the bosses - Jeff Minter would be proud!

Innovation and Cleverness: 8 out of 10
Although the run and gun niche genre was already well established by the time Metal Slug came along, it took things to a whole new level with all the hidden features that were packed into each game. What's more, each game (again with the exception of 4) features very well designed levels with fiendish boss battles that will test your reactions to the max. Why am I giving 4 such a hard time? Lack of imagination basically. It was the first game not to be developed by the original team and instead of featuring all the wacky enemy types we'd become accustomed to and giant bosses, it just kept on reusing the same old Nazi-esque baddies from the first game and nearly every level featured a battle with the same helicopter. The games either side - 3 and 5, are probably the best in the series, with 5 being my personal favourite because instead of the alien invasion that features in the other games, it instead focuses on some tribesmen who discover a possessed hockey mask and then go on a kill rampage. It's then up to you to stop their evil plans, of course!

Value and Replayability: 9 out of 10
Metal Slug Anthology can be picked up for about £15 brand new from most places these days, which considering you're getting 7 games is very good value for money. There's also a Gallery option in the game which includes Wallpapers, Music and an Interview for you to unlock, which requires tokens that you obtain from beating the games, so it'll take a while to unlock everything.

Overall: 8 out of 10
Metal Slug Anthology is an excellent package, featuring (almost) perfect emulation. The 7 games may be quite brief, but the level of detail and the multiple characters ensure that you won't have seen everything in one play through. The brevity of the games also suits the PSP format perfectly, as you can pick up the game whenever you have a few minutes of downtime and play a level or two. The games are very tough but you don't have to worry about not being able to finish them as you are allowed infinite continues (purists can also turn this off). All in all, this is an excellent collection which further establishes the PSP as the console to own for retro fans.

This boss battle is quite a memorable one as you're chased up a tower by a giant metal snake.

FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage review

The FlatOut series started life on the original Xbox, with the original game being a fun but flawed off-road racer. The sequel beefed up the graphics and refined the gameplay, but came just a little too late in the system's life to sell in decent amounts. The developers, Bugbear, have based Ultimate Carnage on FlatOut 2, but used the extra power that the 360 offers to deliver vastly improved graphics and gameplay. What's more, the game is considerably cheaper than most new 360 releases. Is it a worthy alternative to the Burnout series, of just worthless scrap? Let's see...

Format: Xbox 360
Publisher: Empire Interactive
Developer: Bugbear
Genre: Arcade Racing
Region: Europe
Price: £39.99

Graphics: 9 out 10
Seriously, FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage is one of the best looking games I've seen on the 360 so far. Maybe not up there with the very latest games like BioShock but seriously impressive none the less. The tracks are excellently designed with tons of debris and destructible objects to plough through, as well as having many different routes with split and converge throughout. The amount of chaos that can be going on at any one time is huge, and I've never seen the game slow down once. The only thing that really lets the side down with the graphics is the slightly dodgy clipping. This is most noticeable in the Stunt mode where your drive will get stuck half way through a solid object, but can also occur in the racing mode when a garage door or some other object becomes embedded in your car. It's not a game-breaking glitch but it does spoil the sense of immersion somewhat.

Sound and Music: 6 out of 10
This category is a bit of a mixed bag for me. Maybe if you enjoy your crappy American teen rock you may enjoy the soundtrack featured here, but to me it just got annoying fast and that wasn't helped by the fact that there's only a handful of songs to begin with and they repeat ad nauseum. Thank god for the 360's Custom Soundtrack feature, it's a life saver. The game fares slightly better from a sound effect point of view. The smashes and crashes all sound pleasantly weighty and the comedy screams as your driver flies through the windscreen always raises a chuckle. My recommendation is put a half dozen or so of your favourite albums on the hard drive, leave the sound effects as they are, and enjoy (this may work better with more upbeat stuff - Enja might not go quite so well).

Your car becomes increasingly battered as the race goes on. This doesn't effect handling but if you do incur too much punishment you will be "wrecked" and out of the race. This is especially embarrassing in online races, unless you do it to someone else, of course.

This game won't be rated for Plot & Character because it's not relevant.

Game Mechanics: 9 out of 10
There are three different styles of gameplay to be found in FlatOut: UC, all based around the same physics engine. The first is racing, which pits you against 15 other computer controlled drivers, or up to 7 real life drivers over Xbox Live. As well as trying to finish in first place and progress through the various championships, there are also a variety of other awards that you can receive, which vary from causing the most damage to the other drivers, obtaining the fastest lap of the race, completely wrecking another car, and more. You will earn money for achieving these as well as unlocking some achievements if you do them enough times.

When you first start playing FlatOut mode, which is the main single player career, you will have to start in one of the slowest cars and to start with you'll have a hard time finishing in the top slots. So you have to cause as much carnage as you can instead, earning cash while doing so, and then upgrade your chosen car. Gradually, as you increase your top speed, acceleration, handling as so on, you will become much more competitive and start to win. You start off in the Derby class of car but when you get enough cash you can move up to the Race and Street classes, where the cars get faster but are less resilient as a result.

As well as racing, there's also Stunt mode, which consists of twelve different mini games that all involve launching your driver through the windscreen and on to some kind of target. The games include Bowling, Stone Skipping (where you have to press the A button as the poor sod hits the water to keep him bouncing along), and guiding the bloke through rings of fire. These are all good fun but a bit repetitive as they are all really variations of the same thing. They can be played both locally with friends or over Xbox Live.

Finally, there are the Deathmatch Derbys. If you ever played Destruction Derby on the PlayStation, you will remember the bowl stages where you and all the other drivers smash each other to the death. There are a variety of different stages, including the classic bowls as well as car parks, the top of a skyscraper and a figure eight circuit.

In addition to the FlatOut mode, there's another single player campaign known as Carnage mode. Instead of championships, there are various levels of individual challenges which could be a race, a Deathmatch Derby or a Stunt. You can earn Gold, Silver or Bronze, and earning all Gold gets you another achievement.

The achievements in FlatOut: UC walk the line between easy and challenging quite nicely. You will unlock your first few within hours of starting the game, while others such as 25 online race wins will take considerably longer. There's no nasty nigh-on impossible achievements like the ones in Ridge Racer 5, which is a relief. The other modes are Live, where you'll find the usually player or ranked options for each of the three game types, and Party, which is where you go to play the Stunt mini games with your friend.

This poor rag doll chap will meet his demise in many amusing and grisly ways, including getting burned to a crisp when fired through burning hoops.

Innovation and Cleverness: 4 out of 10
Because this game is the third in a franchise, and a remake of the second game at that, I can't give it a high score in this category. There's no doubt that when the rag doll man mini games made their first appearance in the original game they were both clever and innovative, but this is the third time they've been used now.

Value and Replayability: 8 out of 10
There is a nice range of things to do in this game. Just the FlatOut mode itself will take a significant amount of time to complete, especially if you want to get gold medals in all the events. Then you have Carnage mode, which is also pretty extensive, and when you've finished with that there's almost limitless replayability to be found from the multi player modes, both online and off. There was also no shortage of people to play online, even just after the release of Halo 3.

Overall: 9 out 10
FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage is pure digital fun. Never mind the small flaws, at it's core is a highly-polished, solidly designed piece of entertainment and is a welcome antidote to the serious, stuffy racers like Forza Motorsport 2. The Burnout series may be the more well known of the two, but FlatOut is just as good - better than the more recent offerings in fact because if you want pure racing without all of the other nonsense you can have it with the FlatOut mode, and if you want stupid mini games you can have those too.

Should somebody drive into one of the petrol stations that are scattered around the tracks you will certainly know about it.

Sonic Rush Adventure review

Well, talk about a miracle, but here I am with another post barely a week after my last! I hope I can keep this up for a while, I have a few games I would like to write about. This time it's the turn of Sonic Rush Adventure, the brand new hedgehog based platformer from Sega for the Nintendo DS. The original took Sonic back to his high speed 2D roots and was very well received, so does the sequel make any improvements? Let's see...

Format: Nintendo DS
Publisher: Sega
Developer: DIMPS
Genre: 2D Platformer
Region: Europe
Price: £29.99

When Sonic Rush was released shortly before Christmas a few years ago, it was a welcome return to form for the ageing mammal. It fused the high speed retro flavoured gameplay we all knew and loved from the Megadrive games, with a funked up soundtrack and some nifty graphical tricks. Rather than trying to force Sonic into 3D like Sega had done on the home consoles (to mediocre effect), they decided to stick with what they do best and it paid off. Now, with the follow up, the word Adventure has crept into the title - but don't let that concern you do much. There is a bit of light exploration to do but at it's heart this is still the classic style platforming action that fans want.

Graphics: 9 out of 10
On the ultra bright screen of my DS Lite, the graphics of Sonic Rush Adventure look absolutely fantastic. The game like it's predecessor makes use of the "2.5D" technique where 3D polygons are viewed side on for classic 2D gameplay with modern 3D presentation, and because Sonic is so small you can hardly tell the difference between the polygonal model and the old 2D sprites of yesteryear. Highlights include the Coral Canyon levels, with it's nice blue/purple colour scheme and shimmery undersea lighting effects, and the bosses. These bosses, while not particularly challenging to beat (at least not on the default setting) are very impressive to look at, and include a robotic T-Rex, a robotic whale, and a robotic pirate. Noticing a theme here? The boss battles take place over both screens of the DS and you will often need to jump from the bottom screen to the top and vice versa. There are also some 3D vehicular mini games and these look OK, but not as good as the rest of the game in my opinion.

Of course good looks would be nothing in a Sonic game without the most important factor - speed. I'm happy to say that SRA moves along at a tremendous pace. This can be irritating in later stages when there are sudden drops into oblivion but when you know the stages you will know when to take care and avoid this.

The loops and spirals which the series is famous for stretch over both screens on the DS to impressive effect.

Sound and Music: 9 out of 10
The first Sonic Rush featured a very funky soundtrack that has been compared to that of Jet Set Radio, and SRA continues this new tradition with aplomb. The beat box style lyrics may irk some players but I didn't mind it too much. The boss music in particular is very exciting and when you have depleted half of the bosses energy bar the music goes into overdrive and can cause you to panic if you don't have any rings left. Otherwise, you can expect the famous chime as Sonic collects rings, and all the other noises, like the "wub-wub" sound when Sonic is drowning and he pops a much needed air bubble.

Plot and Character: 3 out of 10
SRA tries to be deeper than the average Sonic game by having lots of cut scenes and story interludes in between the stages, but it fails pretty miserably by all accounts. There isn't really much of a plot apart from "stop evil cat pirate thing" and "collect Chaos Emeralds and Sol Crystals" but Sega felt the need to try and shoe-horn one in anyway. To exacerbate things further, they also continued the trend of adding one annoying extra character per game which started with Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast. This time it's a Racoon named Marine, who is cursed with the most god-awful cliched faux Australian accent you'll have ever read. At times she is amusing but for the most part she is incredibly irritating. Thank god you can skip the story scenes. Ironically, if SRA had no plot at all it would have gained a better score in this category, because a Sonic game doesn't really need one.

This is the island base that Sonic and chums use to build new vehicles and plan their next move. A bit like Thunderbirds - but with anthropomorphic animals.

Game Mechanics: 7 out of 10
When SRA sticks to what Sonic games do really well (i.e. really fast, exciting platform stages) then it's great fun. When it goes off on it's various tangents it gets into trouble. These include the afore-mentioned excruciating story sequences, but also to a lesser degree include the vehicular mini games and the amount of repetition involved. You see, Tails being the qualified mechanic that he is, can build a range of new vehicles each with their own corresponding mini game and each able to go slightly farther than the last. The downside of this is that he need a certain number of materials before he can build a new vehicle, which you gain from completing the stages. The better your Rank for a given stage the more materials you will obtain, with a C earning 1 material and an A earning 3. So chances are you will have to replay many of the stages at least once before you can build the next vehicle and journey to the next island, which can get rather boring after a while.

The vehicle mini games are OK... just OK. The touch screen controls work well enough, and the games are mercifully brief, but personally I just wanted to get on with the next platform stage as they are by far the best thing about this game.

Innovation & Cleverness: 6 out of 10
One thing that SRA does do well is the introduction of new worlds to explore. For all too long the Sonic games have been stuck in a loop of the same old Casino worlds, underwater stages, etc. but at least this time DIMPS have shaken things up a bit with a Ghost Ship for example. The other "innovations" like the touch screen mini games I've already mentioned really add very little to your enjoyment of the game and I'd rather they were left out personally.

Value and Replayability: 8 out of 10

The main story mode of the game is quite easy and fairly brief, but it's really only the beginning of the game. Once it's done, you still have to find and earn all of the Chaos Emeralds and Sol Crystals, plus there are 100 Missions to try and clear if you so wish. As well as the main levels there are also quite a few hidden islands to seek out so to do everything in the game will take a fair old while and it lasts a considerable time longer than the original Sonic Rush. You can also play as Blaze the Cat who has a slightly different move set and has to face tougher versions of the bosses.

Overall: 7 out of 10

When you take every aspect into consideration, Sonic Rush Adventure actually feels like a step back compared to the last game, which is a shame because the heart of the game - the platforming and the bosses, is actually an improvement. By cramming in a needless plot, a stupid and annoying Racoon and pointless vehicular mini games, Sega have managed to spoil what would've been one of the best DS games of the year. Well done!

The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar review - Book 1: The First 25 Levels

OK, when I said I'd be back "soon" in my last post, I obviously meant "in two months time". However, here I am at last with the first part of what will hopefully become at three part (or Books as I'm calling them) review of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadow of Angmar sometime in the future. The first part will look at all the stuff I usefully cover in my reviews - graphics, sound, plot, game mechanics, innovation, and value. However, it will purely concentrate on the first 25 levels of gameplay. The second part will cover the other 25 levels, and part 3 will cover the "end game" material and possibly PvP if I can bring myself to try it. My opinions may change over time. For example when I first started playing World of Warcraft I was very impressed with the graphics. However, by the time I'd reached level 45 I started to notice how often the same buildings were repeated throughout the world which felt like lazy design. Anyway, we've got a lot to talk about so let's get started.

Format: PC DVD-ROM
Publisher: Codemasters
Developer: Turbine
Genre: MMORPG
Region: Europe
Price: £30 for the game, then £9 a month for subscription

Some five or six years ago, Sierra announced plans to bring Tolkien's world alive on the PC as an MMORPG, originally titled Middle-Earth Online. After a rather protracted and troubled gestation period Sierra eventually gave up on the idea, and developers Turbine took over the project. It eventually found a home under the wing of Codemasters in Europe, who were taking their first strides into the world of online gaming with games like Archlord and RF Online. Over the years the game has changed significantly - for example there were originally over 30 different character classes planned for the game, in the end there are only 7 in the final product. While some may see this as a disappointment I see it as good thing, as it meant that the finished game was more focused and honed. New character classes aren't completely ruled out anyway, they can always be introduced in future expansions.

Graphics: 9 out of 10
Considering I can only run my copy of the game at the "Medium" setting (there's High and Very High after that), the graphics are still very impressive. Turbine have done a tremendous job of bringing Tolkien's vision of Middle-Earth to live. Players can explore famous areas such as The Shire, with it's grassy fields, round doors and good, tilled earth. Or they can venture into spooky lands like The Old Forest or the Barrow-Downs, or downright evil and treacherous areas like the Ettenmoors or Angmar itself. The look of the game is definitely inspired by the film trilogy to a certain extent, but things look just different enough to avoid a law suit. But the beauty of the game is that it can go into far more detail than the films, or even the book trilogy could afford. Events in the game run parallel to Frodo's epic journey to Mount Doom and take to you to places that the Fellowship never went near, such as Lake Evendim and Ered Luin (the Blue Mountains). It is obvious that Turbine have done an incredible amount of research in order to create this game, not simply reading the trilogy but also the many back stories that flesh out the history of the world.

The land of The Shire is relatively peaceful and stress free, however you will have to travel to far worse places in your quest to aid Strider and the Rangers under his command.

Sound and Music: 8 out of 10
Music, much like the graphics, shares the style of the blockbuster film trilogy while managing not to directly steal from it out right. Many of the pieces written for the game would not feel out of place at all in Peter Jackson's opus. There are the quaint ditties of the Shire, the foreboding and unsettling tunes of The Great Barrow, and the pounding drum fuelled music that plays when you venture into Orc territory. It's all great stuff.

As well as the music composed specifically for the game Turbine also decided to enable players to play their own instruments in the game using various buttons on the keyboard. This is both a blessing and a curse, a for every person who hear playing a magnificent rendition of the theme from The Legend of Zelda, there will be three others making sounds that sound like somebody mangling a cat, or even worse, playing Mmmm-bop by Hanson!

Sound is alright but after a while you start to notice the same sounds appearing again and again, for example a disgusting flesh eating worm makes that same gurgling sound as a "cave claw" (nasty underground beasty) and the various lynxes you come across in the game.

It's also worth mentioning that the game has voice chat built in that you can use to talk to your Fellowship, however I haven't personally tried it so I don't know how well it works. If it's decent, it means you won't have to worry about using a third part application like Ventrilo or TeamSpeak while you play.

Plot and Character: 9 out of 10
Why do I have a rating for Plot and Character when this is an MMO, you ask? Simple - LOTRO uses instances to tell a story that only you and your party will experience. Not that there aren't hundreds of other people taking part as well, but they won't be able to interrupt or steal the item you're supposed to be looking for. At the time of me writing this review, there are currently 10 separate "Books" to play through each with multiple chapters, and they revolve around helping out Frodo and the Fellowship without them realising, by aiding the Rangers and keeping the Witch Lord of Angmar off their backs. The first 8 Books were included in the game at launch, and Books 9 and 10 have been added as expansions later on. These expansions brought with them more plot, as well as around 100 new quests per update and entire new areas such as Evendim.

The view of Weathertop from the Lone Lands

Game Mechanics: 9 out of 10
LOTRO is built around a very similar template to World of Warcraft, and shares many of the same features that helped make that game so successful, such as "rest XP" (where you earn bonus experience points while you're logged out of your account, which helps infrequent players keep up with those who can afford to spend many hours a day in Middle-Earth).

It also brings quite a few minor innovations and improvements of its own to the table, which include not having to constantly buy arrows if you use a bow, and the Deeds, Titles and Traits. Deeds can be compared to Xbox 360 Achievements, for example killing 100 goblins in a certain area, completing a certain amount of quests, or achieving a certain rank in one of your three professions. By completing Deeds you also earn Titles, which are simply pieces of text that you can choose to display after your character name. For example, at the moment my character is known as "Davriel Dawnspire, Grand Master Farmer" but there are dozens of these to choose from and your repertoire is constantly expanding. Traits are also earned from completing Deeds, but are arguably more useful. They range from stat boosts to new abilities. For example finding every Elf ruin in Ered Luin may give you +1 Wisdom. The Traits are also divided in various types, from standard traits, class traits, race traits and eventually legendary traits if you can find the deeds that unlock them. You are only allowed to equip a certain amount of these depending on your level and they also cost money to equip, so you have to pick and choose them carefully.

Also new in LOTRO is the Hope/Dread system. In happy, sunny areas such as the Shire, you heart will be full of hope and your morale (HP) will increase slightly. When you visit a slightly scarier area like the Old Forest, you will suffer a slight dip in HP as your morale goes down a bit. When faced with the servants of Angmar such as the Nazgul, you will suffer from Dread and your morale with decrease even further. When you are defeated in combat you also gain some Dread, which will either dissipate after about 10 minutes or if you get defeated again before it wears off, will get even worse. When under the influence of Dread you will also experience certain visual effects such as the border of the screen becoming blurry and the sky becoming much darker.

I'm now going to attempt to take you through the first 25 levels of the game. Not in great detail or we'd be here all day, but just enough to give you a taste of what to expect. When you first start the game, you will be asked to choose your race from either Man, Elf, Dwarf or Hobbit, your characters sex, their appearance, their name, the area of origin, and finally their class. There are seven classes in all (Hunter, Burglar, Lore-master, Guardian, Champion, Captain and Minstrel), but some of them will be locked depending on the race your choose. Each class has its own benefits - for example I chose to be a Hunter, who is very good from a distance (being adept with the bow and arrow), can use traps, track animals and enemies, and also use wayfaring skills to instantly warp themselves and their entire party to various major locations in Middle-Earth. These skills are gradually dished out every time you level up and will cost you money to buy.

Anyway, your first level will be set in an instance (an area containing only you) and the scene will be set. This also varies depending on which race you choose. Personally, I started in the Elven sanctuary of Edhelion many years in the past, just before evil dwarf Skorgrim Dourhand destroyed it. After escaping with the help of Elrond, I left the instance and was in my character starting area near Thorin's Gate. I then did some fairly simple quests until I was around level 6, before being taken to another instance so I could finish my Introduction. After this instance was finished I was then moved to the town of Celondim and urged to visit the Hunter Trainer and the Vocation Trainer. At the Vocation trainer I chose which package of professions I wanted to take up. In this game, you can't choose your profession individually (like in WoW), you have to pick a group of three that are associated with each other in some way. As I am an Hunter, I chose to be a Woodsman, which includes the professions of Woodworker, Forester and Farmer. So I can chop, gather and treat wood with the Forester profession, then combine it with other materials and make wood based weapons with my Woodworking skills. The third profession, Farmer, allows me to grow my own vegetables, crops and pipeweed, which can be sold to other players (mainly Cooks). All of the Vocations are interdependent in some way - for example my Forestry profession also allows me to turn animal hides into leather. This is not really useful for myself, but other jobs such as armourers or tailors need the leather in order to do their jobs, so the leather becomes my main source of income when sold in the Auction House. Many of my woodworking recipes also need metal ingots which have to be dug up and smelted by Prospectors.

Somewhere between levels 10-20, you will be able to train your character to wear better armour, depending on how good the armour was when you started with. My Hunter could only wear light armour when I started, but upon reaching level 10 I was allowed to move up to medium armour. I don't know whether I'll also be able to wear heavy armour eventually, but I expect so. You also unlock more weapon proficiencies, so if you want to be a Hunter two can dual wield two swords instead of using a bow and arrow, then so be it.

Also during levels 10-20 I took part in the first of the 10 Books, which is where the main story line takes place. Book 1 consisted of 12 Chapters, most of which required assistance from other players and also took part in instances. Book 1 climaxes in a trip to the Great Barrow to face off against the dreaded Wight-Lord, but he's not too hard to see off as long as you bring friends and you're not all the same class. It's important to have a varied party, and strongly recommended to bring at least one Minstrel (the healing class) and one Champion (the tank). My role in parties is mostly to drop a trap, then go behind everyone else and fire arrows at our enemies. These arrows can inflict various status effects such as slowing them down to half speed.

At level 22 I earned my first major wayfaring skill, which allows me to instantly warp my entire party to Michel Delving in the Shire. As the game gradually goes on I will obtain more and more of these, with the more important places having quests associated with them before I can get the skill.

The next part will cover levels 26-50, but don't expect a full review next time, this is it. It will be more of an update. I know one thing I've got to look forward to is buying my mount at level 35, for the sum of 4 Gold and 250 Silver pieces. I'm already up to 3 gold thanks to my business in the Auction House, so I should have enough cash by the time I'm there.

Here he is boys and girls, the baddy of the story (so far) - the very naughty
Witch-King of Angmar.

Innovation and Cleverness: 7 out of 10
While LOTRO does indeed borrow a lot from WoW, it has undoubtedly improved upon the high standard set by Blizzard with the gameplay additions such as the Deeds, Titles, Traits, Hope/Dread, and in many other little ways. I can't give it full marks because after all it is based upon someone else's world. I can't imagine Tolkien would have ever imagined that people would be able to wander around a virtual Middle-Earth, or what he would have thought about the idea, but Turbine have done the best job possible in my opinion. They haven't just used the main book trilogy as their inspiration and source for material, it's obvious in the details they've put in that they're also very familiar with all of the back story as well, such as the The Silmarillion and the 12 volume History of Middle-Earth. This makes the world of LOTRO a very rich and exciting place to be, and while the lands that are currently unlocked aren't as big as the world in WoW there's actually more to do in that smaller space.

Value and Replayability: 8 out of 10
The high score in this category is mainly for how replayable the game is. There are hundreds of quests, four races and seven classes which all play very differently thanks to their unique abilities. Like WoW, you can have more than one character on the go (I think the maximum is 7) so if you wanted to you could play a little of each class before deciding which one to concentrate your efforts on.

Whether a subscription based MMO could ever be called good value for money is debatable. In the case of LOTRO, you pay around £30 for the game and get 30 days free, then you have to pay another £9 for every month you want to keep playing after that. On the plus side, extra content and tweaks to the game are being added all the time by a dedicated support team which isn't free to provide after all. Personally, I traded in another game when I bought this, and got £22 for it so the game only cost me £8. I'm going to review how I feel about the game at the end of every month and if I'm not enjoying it or not playing it any more I will walk away - just like I did with WoW and Final Fantasy XI. There is currently a 7 day free trial available - but I have to warn you the game is so addictive you'll probably end up buying it if you try it!

Overall (for the first 25 levels): 9 out of 10
Fans of Lord of the Rings, be it in book or film form, will get a lot out of this. Those who have played WoW for months and are starting to get a bit tired of it may feel refreshed after a visit to Middle-Earth. At the moment, I'm still enjoying it despite the occasional run-in with a complete idiot (you get this in every online game, but it doesn't seem quite as bad as most in LOTRO because a lot of the people playing are quite intelligent).

Normal service will be resumed...

...soon.

For now, check out this episode of GameHead dedicated to the voice of Mario, Charles Martinet...

Segment one also include a review of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and a preview of Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights

Segment two looks at some of the other roles that Charles Martinet has played, and also includes a preview of God of War: Chains of Olympus and a retro look at Leisure Suit Larry.


Segment three looks at how Charles performs as Mario during events such as E3, and also includes a review of Scarface: The World Is Yours on the Wii, plus a look at the Pac Man Championship Edition event.


Segment four takes a look at Super Mario Galaxy, a preview of the Konami vs Capcom episode of VS, and a review of Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree.

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 review

The Nintendo DS platform has seemed suited to the graphic adventure genre since the beginning, and last year saw the official release of Another Code: Two Memories and the unofficial release of ScummVM, which allows owners capable of running homebrew to load up some of the true genre classics including The Secret of Monkey Island, Sam & Max and Broken Sword. If there's any genre that deserves to be reinvigorated then I would have to say that the graphic adventure is it, as they were by far my preferred type of game before LucasArts stopped developing them and I moved to RPG's to get my kicks.

Now, along comes Cing again (they were responsible for Another Code) with a new adventure for the DS, and they've learnt from some of their mistakes from the first game but have also made some new ones. Can I recommend it? Let's find out...

Format: Nintendo DS

Publisher: Nintendo

Developer: Cing

Genre: Graphic Adventure

Region: US (PAL out soon)

Price: £30

Graphics: 8 out of 10
The first thing you notice when you fire up the game is the striking visual style. All of the characters in the game are drawn as black and white pencil sketches which animate when you converse and interact with them. More than one review I've seen has made the comparison to the classic Aha music video for Take on Me from the 80's, and that's really the best way to visualise what it looks like (if you're old enough to have seen the video in the first place of course). The cast are realistically designed as well and together with the believable script Cing do a good job of making them feel like real people.

The environment that you explore (which is the hotel, basically, as you're not allowed to go anywhere else) isn't quite up the the same quality as the characters, being made of rather basic 3D, but at least things are fairly clear and you can tell what you can interact with because it's highlighted in yellow when you touch it with your stylus. A second touch looks at or uses the object depending on the circumstances. I would compare the graphics of the hotel to those of the mansion in the PlayStation and DS port of the original Resident Evil - rather blocky and basic but functional.

The proprietor of Hotel Dusk, Dunning Smith, is one of the first people you will encounter in the game

Sound and Music: 6 out of 10
The music in the game is rather cheesy and reminded me of lift music or the crap that's piped down the phone when you get put on hold, which I suppose fits in to the whole 70's hotel vibe but isn't really my thing. There are a few pieces of "tension music" as things ramp up but they still have a slight cheap Bontempi organ feel to them.

Sound effects are dotted around to give a little atmosphere, such as footsteps as you walk around or somebody whistling from one of the rooms (which you have to track down). What little sound effects there are, are well done, but overall the sound didn't really amaze.

Plot and Character: 9 out of 10
The combination of the plot and character is really what kept me playing Hotel Dusk through to the end. The characters are all believable (but no necessarily like able - including the main character Kyle Hyde) and the story is compelling and well written. The "game" if you can really call it that (which is debatable) is a little to heavy on dialogue and exposition, and some of the 10 chapters can see you literally clicking through one conversation after another without a single puzzle. This may be too much for some, it really depends on how invested in the characters you become.

Another slightly infuriating feature which tends to exacerbate the lengthy chats is that fact that a wrong conversational choice can lead to a game over and will usually mean you have to sit through the whole thing again. Really, Cing should have allowed the player to skip a conversation they've already read. Several times I had to stop playing because I was too annoyed with the game after a supposedly innocent comment led to a restart.

The plot itself is neatly chopped up into 10 chapters, each lasting approximately an hour each (depending on whether you get stuck or not). At the end of each chapter, the main character Kyle Hyde goes over the facts in his mind and you have to answer 6 multiple choice questions based on events that have just transpired. This is a quite a neat way of reminding those with short attention spans (I'm talking to you there - WAKE UP!) of the important facts, and it was also used in Another Code.

I won't go into too much detail of what happens, but the basic premise sees you taking on the role of ex-cop turned salesman Kyle Hyde as he is sent to Hotel Dusk by his boss. He's also trying to track down his ex partner Bradley who turned traitor and then vanished without a trace. In order to get to the truth you will have to eek out the dirty secrets of some of the other hotel residents and set a few lives back on course for good measure. One thing's for sure, it's going to be a long night (seriously, doesn't anyone sleep in this place?).

Aspiring actress Iris tends to have a rather abrasive personality, especially where Kyle Hyde is concerned.

Game Mechanics: 7 out of 10
In each of the 10 chapters of Hotel Dusk, you will wander the building, chatting to the many staff members and residents who each have their own stories, foibles and secrets. Every so often you a question symbol will appear that denotes that you can grill somebody further to glean more info, or you may have to choose from one of two conversation options, with the wrong one leading to an infuriating game over screen. As already mentioned, these conversations can drag on for rather too long and often tend to repeat information you already know.

Every so often your snooping around will trigger a puzzle which is usually pretty simple to solve but sometimes they are a bit more imaginative. The controls are pretty good, being almost completely reliant on the stylus, though you can press a button to click through a conversation if you get tired of tapping on the screen. Then at the end of the chapter you get the quick quiz which is very if you don't have the memory of a dead guppy. Following that you get the chance to save your game and then it's off to the next chapter. It's hardly the gameplay that dreams are made of because a lot of the time you feel like a passive observer. You even have a notepad that you can write on with the stylus, but it's of little use because your character will stop and tell you exactly what you're supposed to be doing anyway. Yet somehow the plot and characterisation draws you on.

Innovation and Cleverness: 6 out of 10
The unique art style earns a few points here as does the setting and tone of the story with is a bit more mature than the typical fare that usually gets put on to the DS, but for the most part Hotel Dusk would've benefited greatly from a larger range of puzzles and tougher ones to boot. As such it doesn't quite live up to the potential of the concept.

Value & Replayability: 6 out of 10
The game will take you round about 10 hours to finish, and there are apparently multiple endings depending on certain choices you make throughout the game. Whether or not you will bother to go back in order to see a different one is debatable though as you will have to sit through the same events and page upon page of text yet again. When everything is fresh and new and you don't know exactly what makes each character tick, then Hotel Dusk is quite a "page turner", but once you've seen it all before then much of the mystery is gone.

Overall: 7 out of 10
While a lot of my comments here may seem rather harsh, I do think Cing should be applauded and encouraged for bringing the adventure genre to a new audience on the DS and they should also continue to develop their style. If they could just readdress the balance of the conversations and the puzzles then they'd be on to a real winner. As it is, I think all of the reading involved will be a big turn off to many - but if they look past this they will find an engrossing and interesting story wrapped up in an intriguing visual style.

New Releases - 06/04/07

Only a very quick releases section this week because there's not really much worth bothering with. In fact, there's only three games that I would consider picking up...

Sony PSP and Nintendo Wii



Prince of Persia: Rival Swords

A new version of Prince of Persia 3: The Two Thrones which supposedly takes advantage of the unique Wii controller and the portable nature of the PSP. If you've already played that game on one of the other formats then I doubt there's much to keep you interested here - if you haven't though it may be worth checking out.

Xbox 360



Guitar Hero II

The hit music game from Harmonix comes to the big beige box along with 10 new songs including tracks by Alice Cooper, Deep Purple and Pearl Jam. If you still haven't paid out the fairly hefty price to pick this up, then you really should!

Import Watch



Super Paper Mario

The Wii version of Datel's Freeloader disc cannot come soon enough as far as I'm concerned, especially now that the latest game in the long running Mario RPG series is available in the US. There seems to be more emphasis on action and platform style gameplay than the RPG side this time around which worries me a bit, but I have faith in Nintendo and Intelligent systems. It's a shame we have no idea how long we'll have to wait for a European release!

The RetroModern Gaming blog Pick of the Week

Super Paper Mario
This was an easy choice this week - I've loved every moment of every game in the series so far and I expect great things from this one too.